Book Review: Arlo and the Keep-Out Club
Defining Moments
Rory McIlroy celebrated one of the defining moments of his life this past weekend when he won The Masters. That’s probably the least anyone could possibly say about his crowning professional achievement after all the ups and downs we watched him endure over those four days of golf. Professional athletes aren’t the only people that experience these defining moments that shape their lives and futures.
The big difference is, for normal folks these defining moments are seldom scheduled in advance. Instead of them taking place on a big stage in front of raucous crowds, they often happen in unexpected ways with no one else looking on. Our defining moments may start with a quiet conversation with a friend, an unexpected test result, or in the case of Betsy Childs Howard’s latest Arlo and the Keep-Out Club, a run-of-the-mill trip to the playground with your dad.
Fitting In
Arlo, who you may know from his previous adventure in Arlo and the Great Big Cover-Up, loves going to the playground and all the swinging, sliding, and sandbox digging that comes with it. As he’s gotten older, he’s started noticing some older boys that have built a clubhouse for themselves. He’s seen them doing some not-so-nice things, but they look awfully cool up the tree in their clubhouse. Arlo longs to be one of those big boys.
Arlo leaves the sandbox behind and climbs up to introduce himself. The big kids invite him to join their club, but there’s a catch. He’s forced to go on a mission to steal a little girls beloved stuffed owl from a bench while she plays. Arlo’s defining moment has begun. What would he do? Reluctantly, he sneaks down and retrieves her stuffy and returns with aspirations of being part of the club.
Unfortunately for Arlo, simply stealing the owl wasn’t enough. When he returns with the owl, the clubhouse boys raise the bar for him to join. They challenge him to toss the owl in the trash, and promise not to tell anyone about it. They want his friend to lose her stuffed animal forever! Despite knowing it meant his rejection from the club, Arlo refuses and takes his friend’s stuffy back to her. His head hanging low, Arlo finds his father and tells him what happened.
His dad celebrates him making the good decision to return his friend’s toy, and reminds him that “following Jesus is a great adventure.” Sometimes we have to make hard decisions, and sometimes those choices can leave us feeling lonely. Arlo’s dad points him to the Jesus’s promise to always be with us, even when we feel alone. We may lose some friends or miss some excitement as we follow Jesus, but there’s joy in being with him.
Meeting the Moment
After getting the encouragement from his dad, Arlo notices the clubhouse boys scheming next to his friend in the sandbox yet again. Arlo, feeling confident now that he knows Jesus is with him, steps up to meet his big moment. Not only does he not join in the pinecone barrage, he puts himself in harms way to protect his friend by enduring a bombardment of pinecones from the boys. He rescued his friend from a painful, sappy mess! The park ranger escorts the rabble rousing boys out of the park, and Arlo realizes that he’s bigger than he ever thought he was.
Sometimes the moment can feel too big, and we can get overwhelmed. Like Rory, you mishit an iron and your ball splashes into the water instead of landing gently on the green, but that one mistake doesn’t have to be the end of your story. It wasn’t for Rory in Augusta, and it wasn’t for Arlo on the playground. Despite initially succumbing to the pressure of the treehouse boys and stealing his friend’s owl, he realized his mistake and decided not to travel any further down the wrong road. It was a hard decision, and left him feeling alone outside of the group he wanted to be a part of. That hard decision, and his willingness to stand up to the boys ended up showing him how to be a real friend. With Jesus and his new friend by his side, Arlo leaves the park feeling better than when he arrived.
Reflecting on Arlo
Arlo and the Keep-Out Club is another solid entry in the TGC Kids line of illustrated storybooks. Arlo, like all the other books in the series, does a good job of tackling a specific issue(s) that’s common to most kids. Here, we’re primarily looking at peer-pressure and fitting in. While your specific child may have never tried to get initiated into a clubhouse gang, chances are they’ve felt the pressure to do something that looks or feels a little icky to fit in with a friend group, club, or team. Arlo’s story lends itself easily to conversations about what we should/shouldn’t do in order to fit in, even if the details change with your child’s own experience. This serves as a great tool for both parents and Sunday School teachers.
While it’s not pulse-pounding action (no kids storybook is), Howard’s story moves at a clip that keeps kids engaged and wondering what’s going to happen next. Our seven year old was making guesses about Arlo’s choices all along the way. The book also includes a couple natural stopping points to reflect on each section (Arlo’s curiosity, his attempt to fit in, his eventual refusal, his father’s talk about hard choices, and his defense of Bonnie). While you don’t need to stop and give a lesson at each point, it does give you some options for conversation as you inevitably read it more than once like we did.
The illustrations from Samara Hardy continue to be excellent (she’s illustrated all the other TGC kids books in this series). The colors are bright and engaging, and each character has their own look which helps give them some personality. For example, in my head, it makes sense that the ringleader of the clubhouse kids is a jerk because he’s wearing the purple and gold I associate with the Lakers (kidding!). This look works really well for this style of book for kids.
It’s admirable that Howard doesn’t shy away from the fact that even making good decisions can leave us feeling sad or disappointed in the moment. Of course it’s a good thing that Arlo chose not to toss his pal’s stuffed owl in the trash, but that doesn’t mean he’s still not sad about not being able to hang out with the clubhouse boys. These are real emotions that we (and our kids) might experience in these moments, so it’s nice to have that on-ramp for discussion available.
Finally, the inclusion of a “Note to Grown-Ups” at the end of the book is a welcome bit of instruction and encouragement. She’s careful to look to the Scriptures to call parents toward shepherding their kids to rest in Jesus, and to remind them that they’re never truly alone. It’s a great note to end on, encouraging and equipping parents to turn around and do the same for their kids.
Arlo and the Keep-Out Club is a welcome addition to the TGC Kids banner, and would be a great addition to your shelf at home, in a church classroom, or as a resource to point parents toward if their child finds themself walking through a situation similar to Arlo’s. Read and enjoy!